TRANSPORT secretary Stephen Byers has given the go-ahead for a second Metrolink tram depot.

A public inquiry was held last year into plans for the £7m maintenance workshop next to Old Trafford station in Elsinore Road.

Mr Byers has granted an order after planning inspector Peter McMaster concluded: "Given the need to expand the Metrolink light rail system ... the scheme is necessary and the best way of meeting the need for a second tram depot."

The inquiry heard that about 100 trams could be on the streets of Greater Manchester once Metrolink's "big bang'''' extensions are finished. But its depot at Queens Road in Cheetham Hill could only be extended to take 45 at the most.

Around 270 people will work at the new depot but several businesses there will have to be moved. The Open Spaces Society had objected over the closure of a footpath on the site but Mr McMaster decided that the benefits to the public outweighed the loss of one right of way.

The depot will be built as part of the contract to extend the network to Oldham, Rochdale, Ashton, and the airport.